New technologies to optimise water, land usage needed: Minister

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday emphasised the need to innovate new technologies for increasing the use of limited water and land resources.

"There is a need for technologies to optimise water usage and conservation. This is very important given the fact that water is a limited resource. We need technologies which increase the efficiency of using less water," Prabhu said at an industry event here.

The minister was addressing a conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The conclave was designed to brainstorm on the "Role of Innovation in Achieving India@75 Vision of a Developed India by 2022".

The minister further elaborated on the need for optimal usage of current land reserves by balancing the need between agriculture, industries and civil usage.

"We should look at how best to use land for agriculture. How best to irrigate land and have crops that make the best usage of the available land. Similarly, there is a need for land to setup industries. We need to see how best we can manage these needs by new innovative ideas," Prabhu said at the conference organised here.

The conference was attended by eminent industry leaders along with more than 250 participants from government departments, diplomats, corporate, non-profit organisations and academia.

CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee said: "Initiatives of India@75 in the field of skill development, urbanisation and volunteerism have found convergence with the objectives of the government and hence there is a renewed impetus on these three critical aspects that impact livelihoods."

The conclave held three sessions -- on technology, urbanisation and skill development -- to explore the scope of innovation and various means of disruptive approach to give impetus to various schemes like "Digital India", "Skill India", "100 Smart cities" and "Housing for All by 2022".